Okay, since no one else was around, I decided to forgo the deodorant before my workout.

Really, what’s the big deal in the grand scheme of things?  No one is here to experience the displeasure of my smell–well, except my 3 four-legged loved ones.

And, it is not like I offend them.  Hardly.  They find a strange sense of pleasure smelling each other’s debris in the backyard.  Yes, gross.  But true.

So, hours after my workout this morning, yet still without shower, I encounter this offensive odor.

Yup.

Me.

Can’t blame this invisible offense to the nostrils on my dogs–

No, I am an offense to myself.

My friend’s mom has this saying (think it’s a Southern expression):

“If you can smell yourself, someone else has been smelling you for 3 days.”

Still, no one is around, and I am in the privacy of my own home.  I can do what I please.

Makes me wonder though if there is a correlation between outward odor and the privacy of my own thoughts.

Some of them creep up without warning, which reek of the fragrance of death:

You are ugly.

You are stupid.

You will never amount to anything.

You are worthless.

You are ____________ (Fill in the blank)

This silent killer offends our souls.

And, honestly, it is offensive to God.

Yes, offensive.

So, before I become too comfortable with this smell, me thinks I will shower.

And, before we entertain another moment in our thoughts, how about we saturate them in some truth, like:

I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am a child of the King.

We are precious and honored in His Sight.

He happens to delight in this stinky,greasy-haired girl.

He delights in you.

Awestruck,

Josie